Solemnity of Christ the King
22 November 2009
First reading Daniel 7:13-14
I gazed into the visions of the night.
And I saw, coming on the clouds of heaven,
one like a son of man.
He came to the one of great age
and was led into his presence.
On him was conferred sovereignty,
glory and kingship,
and men of all peoples, nations and languages became his servants.
His sovereignty is an eternal sovereignty
which shall never pass away,
nor will his empire ever be destroyed.
Psalm or canticle: Psalm 92:1-2,5
Second reading Apocalypse 1:5-8
Jesus Christ is the faithful witness, the First-born from the dead, the Ruler of the kings of the earth. He loves us and has washed away our sins with his blood, and made us a line of kings, priests to serve his God and Father; to him, then, be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen. It is he who is coming on the clouds; everyone will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the races of the earth will mourn over him. This is the truth. Amen. ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’ says the Lord God, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.
Gospel John 18:33-37
‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ Pilate asked. Jesus replied, ‘Do you ask this of your own accord, or have others spoken to you about me?’ Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? It is your own people and the chief priests who have handed you over to me: what have you done?’ Jesus replied, ‘Mine is not a kingdom of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my men would have fought to prevent my being surrendered to the Jews. But my kingdom is not of this kind.’ ‘So you are a king then?’ said Pilate. ‘It is you who say it’ answered Jesus. ‘Yes, I am a king. I was born for this, I came into the world for this: to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice.’
Reflection
By Mayzelle Atienza
Is that you own idea or did others talk to you about me?
My earliest memory of serving God was when I joined our parish church choir as a child. I was in Grade One then which makes me 5 ½ years old. I stayed in that choir until I went to college in Manila and I only stopped because I had so many other extra-curricular engagements, both church-related and school-related activities. I cannot make the weekly practices in the province anymore.
At about the same time in Manila , I joined a Catholic youth group and committed my life to a personal relationship with God. It has been 18 years since I joined that group in college and it has been 29 years since I first joined the choir. One can say that I have a long, enduring relationship with God through all these years, and it’s true!
Recently, I joined a retreat and one of the questions my retreat guide asked me was how I see God. I was deeply surprised that I was giving her answers and describing to her a textbook God – someone I read and someone described to me by my grade school Catholic Catechism teacher. In all my years of serving God in different communities and capacities, my idea of God was what was taught to me before. I didn’t stop long enough to look deeper into my personal God to form a personal opinion of who He is in my life. I didn’t pause long enough amidst my busyness in service to know God as he deals with me personally. I don’t want to know God only like what the textbook says. I don’t want to know him just based on what others’ experience of Him. I want to know God as He is in my life, dealing with me uniquely and personally.
Dear Lord, grant us the grace to know you more intimately and to love you more deeply. Allow us to personally encounter you even in the most trivial happenings in our day to day life. Amen.
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